Mother's 16-Year-Old Boyfriend Charged in Death of Toddler

SPRINGVILLE, NY-For the second time in as many weeks, the Erie County Sheriff's Department is investigating the death of a toddler, allegedly at the hands of the mother's teenaged boyfriend.

The Sheriff's Department says they were called to a home on Cocharan Avenue in Springville Tuesday night for a report of an unresponsive baby. The suspect was babysitting while the boy's mother was working. The suspect, who is 16-years-old, is not being named due to his age. He is not the father of the child.

Deputies Ben Pisa, Jason Bouton and Don Hoelscher performed CPR on the child while waiting for paramedics to arrive. Austin Smith was rushed to Bertrand Chaffee Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Austin would've turned two years old this Saturday.

The boyfriend was charged Wednesday after an autopsy was completed by the Medical Examiner's office.

Two weeks ago, Justin Crouse, 30, of Salamanca was charged in the death of three year old Gage Seneca on the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation. Crouse was charged with murder after an autopsy showed the boy died of blunt force trauma.